Synopses & Reviews
This book is about the impact of war on the Soviet system of economic planning and management between 1938 and 1945. What was the dynamic of change in the prewar Soviet economic system? How well was the Soviet economy prepared for war? What kind of war followed the German invasion of 1941, and what costs did it inflict on the Soviet Union? How did the Soviet economy measure up to wartime requirements, and what changes in economic organisation resulted? What lessons were laid down for the postwar Soviet approach to both peaceful and warlike tasks? The prewar Soviet economic system was driven by competing needs - on one side a drive for economic mobilisation which was associated with dictatorial management; on the other the needs of economic balance, including rationalisation of administrative planning and the limitation of centralised state power. In wartime the tension between the mobilisation drive and the needs of balance continued to operate. At first dictatorial mobilisation was enough to secure survival. But protracted warfare aimed at the final destruction of Hitler's Germany could only be sustained by means of renewed rationalisation of the planning system and restored economic balance. Thus the war with Germany did not only stimulate Stalinist absolutism through dictatorial management of the economy. In the midst of war Soviet people learnt the limits of naked authority and mobilisation by decree. Together with the conservative and militarist lessons of war, which helped to shore up Stalin's regime once the war was over, other lessons were stored up which helped inspire reform of Stalinist economic institutions after Stalin's death. These findings have more than purely historical significance, for they are directly relevant to our understanding of Soviet planning today, the relationship between civilian and military economic goals and the prospects for economic reform.
Synopsis
This book is about the impact of war on the Soviet system of economic planning and management between 1938 and 1945. What was the dynamic of change in the prewar Soviet economic system? How well was the Soviet economy prepared for war? What kind of war followed the German invasion of 1941, and what costs did it inflict on the Soviet Union? How did the Soviet economy measure up to wartime requirements, and what changes in economic organisation resulted? What lessons were laid down for the postwar Soviet approach to both peaceful and warlike tasks?
Synopsis
This book is about the impact of World War II on the Soviet system of economic planning. It assesses the prewar Soviet economic system, how the economy measured up to wartime requirements, and the lessons laid down for the postwar Soviet approach to both peaceful and warlike tasks.
About the Author
Mark Harrison writes about the history and economics of Russia, conflict, defence and security. He is a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick. He is also a research fellow of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Birmingham and of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.
Table of Contents
Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Economic planning and the search for the balance; 2. The coming of war: plans and realities in 1941; 3. The Soviet productive effort; 4. The search for economic balance in wartime; 5. Soviet lessons from World War II; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.